Ely Probe Extends to Validity of Marriage : Investigations: The college district is checking the trustee’s marital status because of health insurance claims filed on his policy by his wife, Ingrid.

Ventura Community College District officials said Monday that they are probing the possibility that Trustee James T. (Tom) Ely made fraudulent claims about his marital status to get district health benefits for his wife, Ingrid.

Ingrid Ely has been covered under the spouse clause of her husband’s district insurance policy since he became a trustee in 1979, Board of Trustees President Gregory Kampf said. But she might not have been legally married to Tom Ely until 1988, when his divorce from his first wife, Jacqueline, was finalized, Kampf said.

By then, Kampf said, Tom and Ingrid Ely had gotten married three times.

Tom and Jacqueline Ely divorced in 1972, but Jacqueline did not file the final divorce decree until 1988, said Tom Ely’s attorney, James Farley.

According to Farley, Tom Ely has said he was unaware the divorce from his first wife was not final the first two times he married Ingrid.

“I assume he thought that every time he married Ingrid it was valid,” Farley said.

Tom Ely and his ex-wife could not be reached for comment.

Ingrid Ely said Monday she did not know of any specific medical claims filed for her before her husband’s divorce was finalized in 1988 because billing was “in the hands of my doctors.” She declined to comment further.

Kampf said district officials will examine the Elys’ insurance records to see whether Ingrid Ely received benefits she was not entitled to during the years when Tom Ely’s first marriage was not officially dissolved.

Kampf said Tom Ely’s claim that he was unaware the first marriage still existed “sure seems a little fishy to me.”

“If it can be shown that she received coverage fraudulently, it would become a matter for discussion. But we have no information at this point,” Kampf said. “. . . She has had some health problems in the past, so I feel quite certain that she’s probably used the health coverage.”

Kampf said district officials will consider this information as they outline Ely’s expenditures on district expense accounts.

Kampf said officials will meet this afternoon to decide how to end their 5 1/2-month investigation into Ely’s affairs.

That decision could involve anything from a letter requesting that Ely reimburse the district for alleged improper expenses to a lawsuit to recover the money or a claim tacked onto the ongoing criminal investigation into the Elys’ expenses, Kampf said.

Tom and Ingrid Ely were arrested last month on charges that they bilked the district out of thousands of dollars in improper trip expenses. Kampf said the district is studying ways it could recoup that money.

The Elys were charged with two counts each of conspiracy to commit grand theft, and Tom Ely was charged with eight counts of embezzlement and 19 counts of making fraudulent claims on district expense reports.

The couple was arraigned on the felony charges in Ventura County Municipal Court, where their case is set for a preliminary hearing Sept. 19. But Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Nelson said the case is too complex to consider adding bigamy charges against Ely for two simultaneous marriages.

“Normally, something like that would be reported to us by a police agency or complainant,” she said Monday. “My hands are really full simply dealing with the logistics of this. . . . That isn’t what this case is about, and I’m not poking around in these people’s private business just to find things to charge them with.”

Farley said that in 1972, Ely filed for divorce from his first wife, Jacqueline, sent her divorce settlement to her home in San Bernardino and married Ingrid in Las Vegas.

Court records in Clark County, Nev., show that Tom and Ingrid Ely married a second time in Las Vegas on March 22, 1977, and a third time there on July 26, 1988.

Farley said that Ely told him he married Ingrid the second time to “reaffirm” their vows after learning that his ex-wife had not filed a final divorce decree. He then mailed money to her to pay the court filing fees.

The couple married the third time in 1988 after Tom Ely got a copy of the decree.

Last week, Tom Ely filed a workers’ compensation claim against the district.

Farley said Tom Ely filed the claim for injuries he suffered in a January, 1989, car accident that also injured Ingrid’s back. The accident nearly destroyed his Jaguar while he was on the way to a trustees’ meeting.

The inconsistencies in Ely’s marital status and the status he claimed on his insurance policy surfaced late last week in published reports.